Spot the Frippet: device.

The shades of night were falling fast,
As through an Alpine village passed
A youth who bore, 'mid snow and ice,
A banner with the strange device,
Excelsior!

..or so Longfellow tells us.

No, I've no idea what it's about, either.

A device is an ornamental design featured on something (though it's not usually an all-over pattern. A T shirt might be said to bear a device:


photo by David Day
https://www.flickr.com/people/49996757@N00

but a pair of striped pyjamas usually wouldn't).

It won't be hard to spot this sort of device. The difficult bit is to work out why someone has put it there.

The other common sort of device is a contraption designed for one particular purpose. 

photo by D-M Commons

It might be a cherry-stoner, or a shoe horn, or a camping mattress inflator.

(It can be a bomb, too. The use of the word device in this context tis popular among the squeamish, and those hoping to deflect attention away from their horrible and murderous plans.)

The questions to ask with the useful sort of device are: does it make the job easier? and, will I ever need to do the task for which it is designed?

The other question is: how many devices do you own to which both answers to the questions above are no?

Spot the Frippet: device. This word comes from the Old French devis, purpose, from deviser, to divide or control.